What Kind of President Does Dordt Need?

A few weeks ago I received my copy of the Calvin Spark which contained a wonderful interview with philosopher Alvin Plantenga. Among other things, Plantenga was asked what qualifications he would look for in a new president for Calvin College, and he mentioned three. One I've forgotten but the other two struck me as really significant. His second qualification was that the president have a thorough knowledge of and commitment to the Reformed tradition. His first qualification was that the president have "a deep love and respect for the life of the mind" (I'm quoting from memory). I felt a sort of thrill when I read this and thought what a wonderful thing it was that someone still recognized that colleges are more than institutes for job-training, that the most wonderful thing that can happen at a college occurs when a young person suddenly become genuinely excited about an idea, can't wait to dig into it more deeply.

This morning I was reading a book called Beauty for Truth's Sake by Stratford Caldecott and I read: "students come to a college education expecting nothing more than a set of paper qualifications that will enable them to earn a decent salary. The idea that they might be there to grow as human beings, to be inducted into an ancient culture, to become somehow more than they are already is alien to them. They expect instant answers but they have no deep questions."

I know that there will always be some students who come to college only to be equipped to get a well-paying job. But some come hoping to be introduced to a larger world, eager to grow, asking deep questions. I worry that as colleges--Dordt as much as any other, I fear--become more and more commodified, more and more shaped and squeezed into the business model, education/jobs being the product we sell, teachers the salespeople and students the consumers, any concern for the life of the mind, for the very impractical activity of wrestling with big ideas for the sake of the idea and the wrestle, will be easy to dispense with.

And, finally, it will be the president who sets the tone and direction of the college. A president whose primary focus and concern is enrollment numbers and constituent giving will not be a president who creates a hospitable climate for the cultivation of the life of the mind.

Comments

  1. John RFebruary 15, 2012 at 12:17 PM

    Great job, David, and helpful to those of us who get angry over (and have to pay for) the selfish shenanigans Michael L. describes, but are not likely to read the book. Does Lewis go into the inability or unwillingness of regulators to regulate?
    Now Moneyball, the book, also by M. Lewis is another thing; that one I picked up and read with alacrity. Have you read it?
    Your friend, John

    ReplyDelete

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